Madonna: Like an Icon: A Candid Biography Exploring the Complex Personality and Legendary Drive of a Pop Superstar

"Madonna: Like An Icon" is probably the most insightful book about Madonna that I've ever read. It's not a trashy unauthorized biography, it is a serious look at Madonna as an artistic force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, that may not be something everyone is into, because many people would rather buy into the myth of Madonna as a man-eating, sex-crazed control freak. The author of this book, Lucy O'Brien, has said that too many biographies of the icon have focused on her sex life and her image-changing at the expense of her work. Beneath the sometimes superficial facade, Madonna's work has a depth and sociological resonance that many people underestimate or fail to understand. However, to be fair, this is not exactly a biography. But what's the point of a "Madonna biography" by now? Her life is the stuff of myth that even casual fans are familiar with. Instead, O'Brien only focuses attention on Madonna's personal life when it relates to her art, her passion and her identity as an artist. It's more of a character study, and a very insightful one. Her mother's subservience, religious fanaticism, and untimely death made Madonna reject traditional values. Although this is well-known by now, O'Brien adds dimension and legitimacy to this theory. The sexual assault she faced in New York compelled her to project an image of assertiveness and control, in order to prevent losing control and facing attack again. This dominating attitude was reflected in her work, constantly turning the tables on men in the game of sex. The details on her love life were also only mentioned when they related to her music. The vulnerability and loneliness she encountered during the crumbling of her marriage to Sean Penn made her create the confessional "Like a Prayer" while a string of disappointing lovers afterwards contributed to the cynical tone of "Erotica". There is also a great deal of attention that focused on her tours, her creative process, her cultural impact, and her artistic influences. I found this very refreshing. It showed how much the author respected and admired her as an artist, not just a "controversial chameleon". While O'Brien is a big fan of Madonna's, she is fair and objective when needed. She is rather critical of her "Sex" book and questions her interests in Kabbalah. Something that I also enjoyed were the interviews from her collaborators and friends. They portrayed Madonna in a light that is very different than the "queen bitch" Madonna of legend. Many people remark on how warm, vulnerable, and sweet she can be in unguarded moments. Those intimate moments with close friends and trusted colleagues. I've always suspected that this version of Madonna is closer to the real thing than the controlled, imperious image she often presents to the world. The interviews with her collaborators also revealed how focused, savvy, direct, and, yes, wildly talented she is when working. Her work is her safe haven, the place where she can freely express herself and reveal herself and explore new territories. "Madonna: Like An Icon" drives that point home like no other book that I've ever read before.

One Amazon.com reviewer complained that 'Like An Icon' is just a re-hashing of old stories and that there's not much to this biography. I totally disagree. 'Like An Icon' by Lucy O'Brien dismantles the curious and elusive celebrity and pop 'icon' known as Madonna and pieces her back together, revealing her motivations, fears, accomplishments, setbacks and failures. While other biographies seem to take a distant, detached observer stand-point, re-telling the same stories and quotes that appear in magazines or through a simple Google search, O'Brien manages to truly delve into Madonna and her psyche, making for an intimate and very revealing case study. Having listened to Madonna's music and albums, I was hesitant to give this biography a try because I was afraid it would be the usual run-of-the-mill biography that didn't reveal much more than I already knew. I am glad to say that I was completely wrong. 'Like An Icon' is not perfect. It's strange; it covers Madonna from birth through motherhood, from the debut self-titled 'Madonna' album through the very early stages of 'Hard Candy'. I expected the more recent material, perhaps the 2000s onward, would be the most revealing due to the access of information. This is not the case. The most telling chapters of the book are of early, pre-fame Madonna. We learn of her parents, of her relationship with her mother and her issues with her father and brothers, all of which are reflected in some of her modern songs. We learn of Madonna's sexual assault, and how she manages to embrace sex later on in her career in an attempt to profit from it. The book reveals back stories of many of her albums and individual songs, making for a very interesting read. As a reader, I found myself most interested in reading of how Madonna approached each album and how each was, in some way, an attempt to either top herself or a response to the previous album's failure. The reader is treated to very rare side of Madonna; an intimate, up-close and personal look at a woman deemed an icon. She's revealed to be shy, reserved, unsure of herself at times. Yet, as the chapters go forward, and we see Madonna evolve from a dancer trying to make it in New York to a spiritual, devoted mother grappling with the desire for fame and immortality while rising above her flaws. In a curious move, I found the later or modern chapters of 'Like An Icon' to be lacking in some respect. The earlier chapters reveal a very colorful portrait of Madonna, making you believe that O'Brien was always behind her and taking notes from conception through each album. The later chapters reveals a very changed Madonna; one who is in some respects more tame, conservative, coarse and a tad bit unlikable. There's less insight into the album and music-making process after the 'Ray of Light' era. While O'Brien touches on everything from 'Music', 'American Life', the tours, the infamous VMA Britney smooch, these chapters felt very reserved and pulled back, as if the older Madonna became, the more elusive she became and the harder it was to capture her essence in prose. By far the most interesting chapters were from the end of the 'Like a Prayer' era through the notorious 'Sex' chapter, showing how Madonna went from the safe 'pop' realm to the dark, adult artistic realm and how it threatened her fame and changed her. After reading this biography, I feel as if I understand Madonna a great deal more. Even though the book doesn't delve into the 'Hard Candy' era, having read about Madonna's evolution through the years even has left me with some understanding as to why she may be, in some respects, finally looking back and going with styles and trends that aren't groundbreaking but are rather dated and familiar to her. O'Brien does a wonderful job of revealing situations and instances in Madonna's life that fans would recognize as themes in Madonna's musics, videos or photos. Yes, like any biography of a celebrity, especially one as exposed and one with a long career like that of Madonna, there's going to be rehashing of stories already told, familiar quotes, a sense of deja vu, but trust me - this is really the 'definitive' biography and the only one you will need to read if you are curious to know more about Madonna. It's not all pleasant; O'Brien's portrayal of Madonna in her later years is not very flattering and questions the star's motivations. Yet, this made the biography all the more great to me. This was a full, round-about look at Madonna and her rise to fame. It's an explanation of why she's managed to keep her career afloat through the years while many of her '80s contemporaries have faded off into obscurity. It's an explanation of why each generation still talks about Madonna and knows a different side or iteration of her. It's a case and study of why Madonna is indeed a pop icon and visual artist. This is a great story and holds little back; definitely worth your attention and read.

I love almost everything about this book. Lucy O'Brian observes Madonna "a muse, a creator, and a sexual being". Great work by NME author and musician about another great human being. Must have for all anglophiles to understand why Madonna's more of a British director now than an American musician.

I have not read many Madonna biographies. In fact, I have only read J. Taraborrelli's 'Madonna: An Intiminate Biography. Also, the many articles in pop magazines, Newspapers and the very few biography films on Madonna out there. Rarely do these points of references on Madonna delve into her musicality. They generally (if ALL) seem to be about her iconic status as an influential woman of the 20th and 21st centuries, a feminist and as a women who pushes the buttons of controversy. Her music generally is usually hinted at, NOT generally delved deep into; that is until NOW, in Lucy O' Brian's new biography on Madonna: ' Madonna: Like an Icon'. One of the most incredible revelations in this new biography is how Lucy O Brian gives the reader perspectives on Madonna that we don't usually hear or read enough about. Perspectives like: Her musicality, how her music is actually created, how Madonna works in the recording studio and how she is with her dancers. These are all revelations that make this particular biography ultimately unique from all the other biographies on Madonna out there, including the very few music film biographies on her. I never brought Madonna's Greatest Hits 'The Immaculate Collection' on CD, but I did get the vhs cassette. There are two parts to Madonna's music career; the beginning of her career where the world got to hear Madonna in 1983. Songs like ' Lucky Star, Get Into the Grove, Material Girl,etc...etc... When she reaches to the single ' Express Yourself' this is a period in her career, where that classic sound of her music expression changes into new recording dimensions. She ventured into more ambient electronic dance music. The immaculate Collection album ends with the song 'Vogue'. This part of Madonna's discography is the 'classic' Madonna sound. Everything released after the single 'Vogue' went into new musical expressions. What is incredible is that the two people who were mainly responsible for this classic sound have hardly 'EVER' truly been given the recognition they truly deserve in the success of Madonna's career until NOW in Lucy O'Brians book. The names of Shepp Pettibone and Jellybean Benitz are two names that ( I believe) should really be shouted from the rooftops, and I am truly happy that these two men have been given the recognition they truly deserve in Lucy O Brian's biography. I could write how truly incredible this biography is, but If I did, you would be reading this for a very long time. I will just naturally say that because of who Madonna is in popular music culture and because Lucy O Brian is naturally one of the finest music biographers that the United Kingdom has EVER produced, what you have Here in this new biography about Madonna's life and music career, is a biographer who has written a book about Madonna that truly needed to be written, and (I Believe) there is nobody better in the world like Lucy O Brian ,who could have written a biography like this, on one of the most iconic EVER of female music artists. I truly believe in a few years time-like Hunter Davis book on the Beatles; this book by Lucy O' Brian, will be regarded as the one and ONLY truly definitive book to have been written about Madonna. An incredible read and (in my opinion), one of the GREATEST music biography books EVER written.

Easy and quick to read, I found Like an Icon a thorough, enjoyable and engaging read. I had recently read Taraborrelli's Madonna biography and I thought that starting yet another Madonna bio would be a bit too much. However they're both very different in the perspectives they've been written from and I really enjoyed Lucy's book. Whereas Taraborrelli's is more focused on Madonna's personal life, or so has stuck to my memory, O'Brien writes just enough about this facet of Madonna; I perceive much more info about Madonna's work and her public role than strictly personal stuff. And I like that. I loved Lucy's ability to write about Madonna's music, albums and tours in a way that informs and educates, but without being too technical, which would make it a tedious read. This way, the book holds interest of readers, imo. So, all in all: great read, exceeded my expectations. When I posted the above review on Twitter, Lucy O'Brien said: "Hey, thank you SO MUCH for these thoughts. I feel that Madonna's approach to music has been woefully overlooked, and I was really curious about what motivated her in the studio and how she worked with musicians. So glad you 'got' this!!" To which I replied: Completely agree. The world's always focused on M's controversies, personal life, etc. and strayed from her music & touring (and her role in global culture, philanthropy..), which is what makes her the great, ground breaking artist she is. Honours and recognition will come too late as always".

J ai acheté ce livre il y a une dizaine d'années. Comme je l'avais beaucoup apprécié, les 60 ans de madonna ont permis une réedition qui a permis de raconter les denieres années de la vie de madonna. J espere qu il sera traduit en français comme la premiere fois.

This is one of the best Madonna biographies (the other is Chris Ciccone).

Most biographies of Madonna so far have been lightweight fluff, but this one is different. Though it's unofficial, it has the advantage of being objective. It goes through every phase of her career and tells you about the process of making each album and tour. Some bits I've read before but there was a lot of new stuff too, which I found fascinating. It covers Madonna's personal life but not in an intrusive way, and is much more focused on her career than any other bio I've read. O'Brien analyses Madonna's work from a feminist perspective, but she's not heavy-handed with it at all. She is sympathetic to her subject and counters a lot of the tabloid myths, giving a more balanced picture of what she's really like. At the same time, she doesn't put M on a pedestal and shows her as a real woman, not skirting her human flaws. 'Madonna: Like An Icon' is an intelligent biography which gives Madonna the respect she deserves as an artist.